The means for the 2025 school year have finally been fixed, which allows us to see more clearly the priorities defined by the new minister Elisabeth Borne. Rue de Grenelle presented this Friday, January 17 to the unions the distribution by academy of jobs in public schools, colleges and high schools. The start of a process that is usually well-oiled, but which was delayed by a month and a half due to the fall of the Barnier government.
This allowed socialist deputies to cancel the 4,000 cuts to teaching positions initially planned in the 2025 finance bill, under penalty of censoring the Prime Minister, François Bayrou. Rue de Grenelle thus recovers 50 million euros. What “support our educational policies”announced Elisabeth Borne, who buries two key measures of the “shock of knowledge” of one of her predecessors, Gabriel Attal: that of continuinge “needs groups” in fourth and third, and that of making passing the patent examination compulsory. Libé takes stock of the announcements.
No compulsory passing of the patent
Contrary to what the previous government announced for 2027, obtaining a certificate will not be compulsory to enter high school. Only passing the exam remains an obligatory point. The experiment with “secondary prep” classes for students who have not had their certificate, already practiced in some high schools, will however be maintained at the start of the 2025 school year, while its effects are assessed. Elisabeth Borne also plans to put in place new support systems to support students whose class councils have decided to move to second grade without necessarily having passed their exam.
Exit the deployment of level groups
As usual since the Macron presidency, the ministry wants to concentrate its resources “in favor of the fundamentals”. Elisabeth Borne does not immediately return to the “need groups” – in reality groups of levels – in French and maths deployed in sixth and fifth since September with great difficulty. Before that, the ministry must still settle the legality of this measure, the Council of State having estimated in November that a simple decree was not enough. A proposed decree will therefore be presented to the teaching unions at the end of January. The effectiveness of this reform, contested by the entire educational community, will be evaluated in March and June. Without convincing results, the ministry is not closing the door to its elimination in 2026.
Elisabeth Borne, on the other hand, put a stop to the deployment of these level groups in fourth and third. Exit this idea, supposed to be implemented at the start of the next school year. The minister leaves it up to the educational teams to choose what support systems they want for these classes, “in coordination with the inspection bodies and consistent with existing educational priorities”. These support systems may focus on French and maths, or on other subjects. These support measures involve the creation of 324 additional jobs.
In the second level again, Elisabeth Borne confirms the implementation of the plan “for school tranquility” of her predecessor Anne Genetet, with the creation of 170 positions of principal education advisors and 600 education assistants in middle schools and high schools.
Fewer students per class in schools
By creating jobs in the second level, the ministry is eliminating jobs in the first level. Outside of Mayotte, Aix-Marseille, Nice and Guyana, all academies are losing jobs, but less than expected. The continued demographic decline, with 92,700 fewer students at the start of the 2025 school year, mechanically makes it possible to reduce class numbers, assures the ministry. Which prides itself on reaching the lowest level of the number of students per class since this indicator was measured, with 21.1 students per class on average at the start of the September 2025 school year, compared to 21.3 in 2024 and 23.2 in 2017. France nevertheless retains its title of champion of the busiest classes in Europe.
The ministry also records the recruitment of 2,000 support workers for students with disabilities (AESH) out of 140,000 positions today. Rue de Grenelle finally wants “preserve the resources of rural schools, despite the marked demographic decline” and promises to create classes in very small sections in priority neighborhoods of city policy.
Source: www.liberation.fr
